Then Jesus came to his disciples, and said, "All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." -- Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)

In fulfilling our Lord's Great Commission, each Christian's personal witness and testimony are so important. Why is that so? There's an old saying that one picture is worth a thousand words. So let me answer this question with a "word picture."

A committee chairperson at a church I once served told me about his elderly sister who attended another church. She and her fellow church members came together one day to celebrate her birthday. During the celebration they noticed that she was unusually quiet and reticent.

Finally, she told them, "There's something I have to share with you." She told them she recently had a very vivid dream. In the dream she was standing in a beautiful meadow on a sunny day. She was in line with many other people. They were standing in front of her and behind her. All were facing forward in the line. She could see that the line was advancing forward toward a single person who was facing them.

Each individual in line would stop and speak briefly to the person. For some the person would smile shaking his head up and down, and the individual would go to the right. For others he would sadly shake his head no, and the individual would go to the left.

The sister said that she suddenly realized that the person facing them was Jesus. She got closer until the individual ahead of her was facing Jesus. After a brief conversation, Jesus sadly shook his head no. And suddenly the individual ahead of her turned to her and asked a simple question: "Why didn't you tell me?"

At the end of our lives, it would be so sad to stand before Jesus realizing that people were not there simply because we had not shared the Good News with them. The greatest sermon that we can ever preach is the living of our lives for Him. St. Francis of Assisi would tell his monks to go forth sharing the Good News of Christ, and, where necessary, use words.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help us this day to go forward living and sharing the Good News of Christ with a hurting world, in Christ's name we pray, Amen.